Organic Soil Fertility Management for Enhanced Paddy Production

ORGANIC SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT FOR ENHANCED PADDY PRODUCTION AND REVENUE GENERATION WITH LESS COST AS ACHIEVED IN SOME MODEL PADDY FIELDS IN ORISSA

A.K. Panigrahix1, T.R. Sahoox2, H.S. Beherax3 and N.K. Swainx4

ABSTRACT:

Green revolution was introduced in the country in the early sixties to meet the demand of food and add cereal cultivation in the Rabi. The aftermath of this revolution is alarmingly disastrous. The humus devoid soil has lost its water holding ability, pests have acquired tremendous resistance against pesticides. Indian paddy fields are adding roughly about 37.8 metric tonnes of methane, a green house gas, into the atmosphere. Food and underground water contaminated with pesticides.

The environmental deteriorations, food and water contaminations demand a paradigm shift from chemical to organic agriculture. With the growing demand of food, diminishing arable land holdings and exodus of the agrarian communities from villages to towns abandoning agriculture, only organic farming will not suffice. The new technique conceived is known as sustainable agriculture, where soil fertility, crop yield and pest management are taken care of together with the environmental protection. This method of agriculture is in harmony with the nature. The article examines three ex situ experiments where the above mentioned issues are examined along with the cost benefit ratio and throws light in making agriculture sustainable.

INTRODUCTION

More than six decades ago,Sir Albert Howard explained the nature of soil fertility in his famous book, “An agricultural Testament” as under. The nature of soil fertility can be understood only when it is considered in relation to Nature’s round. To study soil fertility we have to know the natural working system and to adopt methods of investigation in strict relation to such a subject. We must look at soil fertility as we would study a business where the profit and loss account must be taken along with the balance sheet, the standing of the concern, and the method of management. We have to consider the wood, not the individual tree. So it is with soil fertility. According to him, a fertile soil is one which has humus in abundance. If the soil is deficient in humus, the volume of pore space is reduced, the aeration of the soil is impeded, there is insufficient organic matter for the soil population, the soil machinary runs down, the supply of oxygen, water and dissolved salts needed by the root hairs is reduced, the synthesis of carbohydrates and proteins in the green leaf proceeds at a lower tempo; growth is affected.

CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE, Impact Analysis;

Then came the war and the war ended sooner than expected, resulting in stock piling of war surplus exploxive related materials, mostly compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus. Global approach to agriculture modified in the event of population growth and developments in material and biological sciences. New seeds were developed and introduced to enhance food production which soon became popular in populous countries like India, China, South East Asian Countries and Japan. War surplus chemicals were converted into compounds called artificial chemical fertilizers. The seeds, popularly called “Green revolution seeds” or “Miracle seeds”, were developed to consume these synthetic artificial chemical fertilizers with water and

produce more food. Thus, monoculture came into being at the expense of agro biodiversity and resources like water diminished.

Four decades into the green revolution in India, the situation is pathetic; soil in general has become humus deficient, excessively hard and bears no pores for holding air and moisture. This soil no longer harbours the beneficial microbes but the pathogens and pest eggs, requiring excessive use of synthetic pesticides. The impacts of these agro chemicals, the artificial chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides are well observable. No data have been published by any the Indian agencies like the US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA). The USEPA revealed in 1991 that the projected estimate of methane emission from the Indian paddy fields amounted to 37.8 metric tonnes per year, thus accusing the Indian paddy cultivators in adding to the global green house gas accumulation as methane is also considered as a green house gas. Consequently in Indian more emphasis is now attached to shift to non conventional agriculture and keep paddy cultivation limited to 47 percent of the total arable land. Use of artificial chemical fertilizers especially N- fertilizers always invite the agricultural pests and applications of pesticides, especially synthetic pesticides. The disastrous consequences of the use of these synthetic pesticides over several decades are now clearly observable. There is a rise of pesticides resistance in the pest species and diseases causing microbes at the expense of the beneficial organisms like the beneficial insects (honey bee) and scavenging birds (vultures). Reports of crop failure are also linked to the changes in natural status of the soil. Reports of methane emission are obviously owing to excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers like Urea. Reports of occurance of agricultural pesticides in underground water (bottled water and soft drinks) are certainly due to their excessive applications and non degradations. There are reports of people in villages dying after consuming water from shallow tube wells in Orissa (Chakulia, Balasore, 2005).

HYPOTHESIS

It was thus felt essential to find a solution to both, enhance crop yield through enhanced soil fertility organically without further degrading its status and keep the pathogens and pests at bay through the use of natural pest repellants, botanical pesticides and employing biological pest control methods. But the most important one is, following Sir Howard, to bring out a balance sheet of profit- loss, making cultivation a profitable enterprise so that uncalled for future situations like resource retirement, contract farming and above all exodus of the agrarian communities from villages to cities are successfully thwarted. In India, agriculture is a million year old enterprise and has changed Sir Howard from being an western expert to an oriental expert. The population is growing alarmingly but arable land is diminishing. The farmers are committing suicides owing crop failures. There ought to be a shift in approach to the whole practice of agriculture at the moment. The modern agriculture should be made sustainable, i.e., in harmony with the nature. With the foregone objectives set in mind the authors experimented with the principal crop of Orissa, i.e. paddy cultivation, both in Kharif and Rabi.Methodology of approach, application, observation and cost benefit ratio of three such ex situ experiments, one of Rabi and the two others of Kharif are furnished below.

Material Method and Observations:

Experiment-1 : Rabi 2003 -04

Farmer’s name and address – Sri Surendra Nath Patra, Vill- Dharampur, Fulwar Kasba, Balasore, Orissa.

Soil type – Deltaic alluvial

Crop type- Paddy (HYV)- Lalat (ORS-26-2014-4) known qualities – Duration: 125-130 days.

Grain type: Medium * Slender, Grain yield/hectare: 40 quintals (as on record)

Experimental Unit Area: 1 Acre

Source of seed : Farmers own saved (OS)

SL No.. Activities associated Control Rs Chemical Rs. Organic Rs

1. Seed cost OS 0.00 OS 0.00 OS 0.00

2. Seed bed preparation 2HL 100.00 2HL 100.00 2HL 100.00

1BL 80.00 1BL 80.00 1BL 80.00

3. Ist cultivation Tractor 600.00 Tractor 600.00 Tractor 600.00

(2 hours) (2 hours) (2 hours)

4. Farm yard manure Not applied Not applied 2 tonnes 0.00

(II)

5. Puddling 6 HL 300.00 6HL 300.00 6HL 300.00

2BL 160.00 2BL 160.00 2BL 160.00

6. Basal application Nil Gromor Pongam 70 kg 700.00 Oil cake MOP 1qt. 400.00 20 kg 100.00 Azolla 0.00

(I.I)

7. Transplantation 35HL 1750.00 40 HL 2000.00 35 HL 1750.00

8. Interculture 5HL 250.00 7HL 350.00 5 HL 250.00

9. a) Ist top dressing Nil Urea Pongam Oilcake

12 kg 60.00 50 kg 200.00

MOP Cow urine

6kg 30.00 250 lts. 0.00 (I.I)

b) 2nd top dressing Nil Urea

10 kg 50.00 Cow urine

MOP 250 lts. 0.00 5kg 25.00 (I.I)

10. Pesticide application Nil 400.00 200.00

(lure appln.)

11. Irrigation (total) 250.00 250.00 250.00

12. Cutting of crop 15HL 750.00 18HL 900.00 15HL 750.00

13. Threshing 10HL 500.00 13HL 650.00 10HL 500.00

14. Miscellaneous expenses Nil 100.00 150.00

(pest management)

15. Total cost involved(in Rs) 4740.00 6855.00 5690.00

16. a.Yield of grains 12.7qntls. 20.2qntls 23.5qntls

@520/-per qntl @520/-qntl @520/-qntl

6604.00 10504.00 12220.00

b.Yield of straw 15.85qntls 25.07qntls 29.47qntls

@80/-=1268.00 @70/-=1755.00 @80/-=2358.00

17. Total yield(in terms of Rs.) 7,872.00 12,259.00 14578.00

18. Net benefit 3,132.00 5,404.00 8,888.00

19. Cost benefit Ratio (17/15) 1.66 1.788 2.562

Experiment -2: Kharif 2004-05:

Name and address of the farmer: Raghunath Barik, Bhimpur

Soil type: Coastal alluvial Crop type: Paddy HYV (Pooja) (recently introduced)

Experimental unit area: 1 Acre Source of seed: Farmer’s own saved seed (0S)

SL No.. Activities associated Control Rs Chemical Rs. Organic Rs

1. Seed cost OS 0.00 OS 0.00 OS 0.00

2. Seed bed preparation 2HL 100.00 2HL 100.00 2HL 100.00

1BL 80.00 1BL 80.00 1BL 80.00

3. Ist cultivation Tractor Tractor Tractor

2hrs 600.00 2hrs. 600.00 2hrs. 600.00

4. Farm yard Manure Not applied Not applied 2 tonnes (II) 0.00

5. Puddling 6HL 300.00 6HL 300.00 6HL 300.00

2BL 160.00 2BL 160.00 2BL 160.00

6. Basal application NIL Gromor Pongam oil cake

70 kg 700.00 1.5q 600.00

MOP Sesbania

20kg 100.00 10kg 110.00

B.F 500gm. 100.00

V.C. 5 qntls.

(I.I) 0.00

7. Transplantation 35HL 1750.00 40HL 20000.00 35HL 1750.00

8. Interculture 8HL 400.00 10HL 500.00 8HL 400.00

9. Ist Top dressing Nil Urea Bacterial fertiliser

12kg 60.00 250 gm 50.00

MOP Compost 2.5qntls.

6kg 30.00 (1.1) 0.00

10. 2nd top dressing Nil Urea Bacterial fertilizers

10kg 50.00 250 gm 50.00

MOP Compost 2.5qntls.

5kg 25.00 (1.1) 0.00

11. Pesticide application Nil Total 400.00 (1.1) 0.00

12. Crop cutting 15HL 750.00 18HL 900.00 15HL 750.00

13. Threshing 10HL 500.00 13HL 650.00 10HL 500.00

14. Miscellaneous Nil 100.00 150.00

15. Total cost involved (in Rs.) 4,640.00 6,755.00 5,700.00

16. a. Yield of grain 16.50qntl. 8,580.00 21.9qntl. 11,388.00 22.10qntl. 11,492/-

b. Yield of straw 22.10qntl 1,768.00 27.5qntl 1,925.00 29.4qntl 2,352/-

c. Total yield(in Rs.) 10,348.00 13,313.00 13,844/-

17. Net benefit 5,708.00 6,558.00 8,144/-

18. Cost benefit ratio (16c/15) 2.23 1.971 2.429

Soil fertility condition of the above crop at different stages.

Plot N (Kg/ha) P (Kg/ha) K(Kg/ha)

Subiah and Asija, 1956 Olsen’s method Ammonium Acetate method (alkaline potassium permanganate)

Initial 45DAT After Initial 45DAT After Initial 45DAT After

harvest harvest harvest

Control 511.9 499.4 426.49 50.00 44.6 15.2 312.0 300.8 200.25

Chemical 511.9 561.2 520.57 50.00 52.2 26.16 312.0 346.6 241.9

Organic 511.9 560.7 564.4 50.00 43.7 18.24 312.0 336.8 251.32

Experiment. 3. Kharif 2004-05

Name and address of the farmer: Sri Pitamber Jena,

At- Mangalpur, P.O.- Chengua- Mangalpur, Via- Bhimda, Dist; Mayurbhanj (Orissa)

Soil type : Sandy loam

Crop type : Paddy (HYV) Kasturi

Source of seed : Purchased from other farmer (PI)

(7.5 kg @ 5/- per kg= Rs. 37.50p)

Known yield potential of the variety (Kasturi) ± 20 quintals per acre (chemical)

Plot size : 30 decimals (100 decimals = 1 Acre)

Ingredients applied:

1. Sesbania (Dhanicha) seed @ 12 kg/acre = 3kg 600gm @ Rs. 11/- 1 kg = Rs. 39.60p)

2. Pongam oil cake @ 150kg/acre = 45 kg @ Rs. 4/-kg = Rs. 180.00

3. Cow urine soaked cowshed soil @ 4 quintals / acre= 1.2 quintals (Internal input)

4. Fresh cow urine @ 7-8 liters twice in a week for 6 weeks (internal input)

5. Home made heap compost – 2 cartloads (I I)

MATERIAL METHOD

Sesbania seeds were sown in the soil after the first ploughing and allowed to grow up to preflowering stage where after the field was ploughed and the plants were incorporated into the soil together with pongam oil cake, cow urine soaked cowshed soil and home made compost. The farm land top soil was thus converted into a paste of soil, sesbania plants, pongam oil cake, urine soaked cow shed soil, home made compost and stagnated water (just enough to create a muddy condition). It was allowed to stand overnight. The field was then transplanted with the paddy seedlings two days after. Thereafter, the field was periodically weeded and fresh cow urine applied at regular intervals to add more potash* to the soil.

[*The authors found out that fresh cow urine is a rich source of available potash to the plants and help in better fruiting.]

OBSERVATION:

1. Soil samples were collected at different stages for study of soil fertility conditions and the NPK values were ascertained.

Study of sample N(Kg/ha) P(Kg/ha) K(K/ha)

Initial 283.7 42.6 168.3

45 DAT 458.2 45.8 273.6

75 DAT 462.1 39.9 260.1

After harvest 393.6 35.2 254.7

2. Yeild of grains at harvest: 8.5 quintals (@ 28.33 quintals/acre –or- 70 quintals/hectare)

3. Yeild of straw at harvest : 9.9 quintals (@ 32.9 quintals / acre)

Cost Benefit Index :

1. Total expenditure incurred: Rs. 1317.10

A. Ingredients: (purchased input)

i. Cost of paddy seeds : Rs 37.50

ii. Cost of sesbania seeds : Rs. 39.60

iii. Cost of pongam oil cake : Rs. 180.00

B. Labour:

i. Seed bed preparation 1 HL : Rs. 50.00

ii. Ist cultivation 1 BL : Rs. 80.00

iii. Puddling I BL : Rs 80.00

iv. Transplantation 10 HL : Rs. 500.00

v. Interculture 1HL : Rs. 50.00

vi. Crop cutting 4 HL : Rs. 200.00

vii. Threshing 2HL : Rs. 100.00

2. Total sale proceeds of yield:

i.Value of grain,

8.5 quintals@ 600/- per quintal = : Rs. 5100.00

ii Value of straw,

9.9 quintals@ 80/-per quintals = : Rs. 792.00

———————

TOTAL Rs. 5892.00

3. Cost benefit ratio (2/1) = 4.47

Abbreviations used :

HL = Human labour, BL =Bullock Labour, MOP = Muriate of potash, N= Nitrogen (total), P= Phosphorus (available), K= Potash(available),II= Internal input, PI=– Purchased input, B.F.= Bacterial Feriliser, V.C.= VermiCompost.

x1 – Principal Investigator, UGC MRP Organic Farming, F.M. (Auto) College, Balasore (Orissa)756001

x2- Project Associate, UGC MRP Organic Farming, F.M.(Auto) College, Balasore(Orissa) 756001

x3- Research Associates, PPBSA- Navdanya, Ranipatna, Balasore(Orissa) 756001.

x4- Co-investigator, UGC MRP Organic Farming, F.M.(Auto) College, Balasore(Orissa) 756001

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors are indebted to the University Grants Commission, Bahadur shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-2, and the Navdanya Trust, A/60 hauz Khas, New Delhi-16 for the financial assistances received from them to undertake the ex- situ field studies and laboratory assessments.

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